A cool guy to invite to your next playgroup.Topic: work at home dadsStuff to do at home while your kid is throwing up

This
morning I interviewed John
Patrick of Livonia, MI while he was rocking his 4-month old son with
his foot. He was plugging away at his computer, making updates to one of those
web site ideas that start with a whim and has gone out of control. Patrick
started staying home a few years back when he and his wife didn't want to stick
their kid in daycare. With some time, and a little computer experience from
previous jobs, he took his love for 80's style music and started a music
band web site Motor City Rock. It's
the typical web success story as he starting out listing a bunch of local
Detroit 80's bands and started getting 30,000 hits a month. Since then he has
added over 700 Detroit area bands and spends 3-4 hours a day keeping it going. In
the last 10 months he's gotten 1.8 million visitors. What's unusual is that even
with this traffic the site is ad-free and he generates no money from it. "I
don't want to to take anything away from the bands who have done all this
work." He says, "but I am running out of money to pay for all the
bandwidth." He was approached by the University of Michigan to use
their servers but they got spooked by the amount of .mp3's on the site, even
though all the bands have authorized him to offer them for free download.
"A lot of the 80's music is from tapes hidden under these guys beds and
would have rotting out anyhow" He finally found a fan of the site to use
their servers and is planning a re-design. To make money he may accept donations
in the future on his site. He also held a benefit
to raise money and did so well they want him back. "My son knows what I'm
doing and is pretty cool with it" I do all my work in the morning from
7:30-10:30 and find time to do the vacuuming, cleaning and cooking. My son
entertains me in the afternoon and I save the time at night to be with my wife.
All Detroit playgroups should take notice and invite this guy to your next
"dads night out".

A few news snippets I've been saving:

Screen cleaning at-home dad:
Mark Snaza of Minnesota tried to use baby wipes to clean his screens. it didn't
work so he made a better wet towel for the job and made a business
out of it.

Make money from bad people:Stewart
Abramson of Pennsylvania makes some bucks from people (telemarketers)
who bother him on the phone. He calls himself "a stay-at-home dad who works
as a business consultant in his home".

Former at-home dad
Unlike the Census Todd Goldade seems to have a gut feeling there are more
at-home dads, in this report
from WDSU-TV in New Orleans, "Goldade made the decision to be a
stay-at-home dad and let his wife continue her education at Columbia in New
York. "Back then it wasn?t a big hot thing to be a stay-at-home dad, but
now it?s getting more popular," said Goldade. (Does
the US Census know about the last two people I mentioned?)

Bizarre
at-home dad headline of the week: "Paraplegic Stay at Home
Dad, Plans on Building a Million Dollar Health And Wellness Business"
in this story
there is absolutely nothing about his kids or his disability, but lots of info
on "a liquid nutritional solution that contains the best working
adaptogens on earth. This product is backed by 40 years of government funded
research and years of clinical testing...blah, blah... arrrrghhh!! (sorry)

An at-home dad Jeopody question:
Question: The last person to be defeated by Ken Jennings before he ended the
longest winning streak in TV game show history? Answer:Who is stay
at-home dad Rob Kimbro of Princeton, N.J?

New Playgroup listing
today from Wisconcin: Kris Nalker of Stay-at-home dad of Kenosha and Racine (KRDADS)